My double chocolate chunk cookies aren’t your average chocolate cookies. My recipe uses a special technique for an incredible texture (they’re dense, chewy and fudgy!) and a huge, bakery-style look. They’re absolutely loaded with chocolate, too! Recipe includes a how-to video!
Incredible Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Okay, I know I say this about every new cookie recipe I share, but these double chocolate chunk cookies are my new favorite cookies. As a self-proclaimed chocoholic, these check every box for me; they are big, melty, super chocolatey cookies that are absolutely LOADED with chocolate in every single bite!
Using a chopped chocolate bar is key here, as it provides varying sizes of chocolate, from larger melty chunks all the way down to that chocolatey dust left on your cutting board (and you better add that too!). The end result is a deliriously rich and chocolatey experience that I truly can’t wait for you to try!
What You Should Know About This Recipe
- Two key characteristics of these cookies include their flat surface and their decadent, chewy centers. These are both due to the fact that we gently flatten the cookies after baking. This gives them a bakery-style appearance (an added bonus!), but that’s not really why we’re do it. When we gently compress the cookie while it’s still warm, we compact the inside; this makes it much more dense, which in turn makes it more fudgy, decadent, and chewy (and helps it stay nice and chewy). The texture is fantastic!
- There’s no mixer needed, since we start with melted butter. Oh, and you can bake them right away because there is also NO chilling required!
- The rich chocolate flavor comes from blooming the cocoa powder in the hot melted butter and chopping our own chocolate. When you chop your own chocolate, the chocolate is much more melty and you get a variety of sizes throughout – larger chunks to bite into that are melty and gooey when still warm, then all those little shards of fine chocolate from the chop as well. If you made the caramel pretzel chocolate chunk cookies I shared a bit ago, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about!
Ingredients
Let’s go over the main ingredients in today’s recipe before we get started.
- Semi-sweet chocolate. The amounts of chocolate are a bit different if using pre-chopped vs. chopping your own bars. I only need 8 oz of chopped chocolate bars when making this recipe, but if I’m using Tollhouse or Ghirardelli brand pre-chopped chocolate, I find it just doesn’t go quite as far since it’s different in texture. Chocolate bars are definitely better and more gourmet, and I recommend using them for best results.
- Dutch cocoa powder. This is key for the richest chocolate taste. We’ll add this directly to the hot butter to help “bloom” the cocoa and extract its flavor.
- Brown sugar. Using a combination of granulated and light brown sugar gives these cookies an extra chewy texture and deeper flavor. I love using brown sugar in my chocolatey desserts, from my chocolate cake to my brownies.
- Eggs. These should be at room temperature, ideally. If you forget to set yours out, you can follow my handy trick to quickly bring eggs to room temperature.
- Vanilla. I add vanilla to most of my chocolate recipes because the two pair together so well (vanilla always enhances chocolate, never detracts from it!). We’ll use a good bit in these cookies–1 ½ teaspoons or half a tablespoon to be exact!
SAM’S TIP: Technically you can use natural cocoa if that’s all you have on hand. The cookies won’t be quite as rich or chocolatey though, and they’ll be lighter in color too. Note that you cannot always substitute one for the other, I talk more about this in my post on natural vs. dutch process cocoa powder.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Chop your chocolate into varying sizes; some larger chunks, smaller pieces, and everything in between. And don’t forget to add all that leftover chocolate dust from your cutting board too!
- Melt the butter, then immediately whisk in the cocoa. This step simultaneously blooms the cocoa and helps cool the butter down so it’s not too hot when we add our sugars.
- Wait for your butter to cool before adding your sugars, otherwise you could end up melting them and ruining your cookie dough. Then stir in the eggs and vanilla.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then gradually fold then into the wet ingredients in 3-4 parts. Adding gradually allows the flour mixture to be fully absorbed and makes for much easier combining.
- Fold in the chopped chocolate (add the tiny flakes from your cutting board) until fully incorporated.
- Roll 3-tablespoon sized scoops between your palms until smooth and round, then bake for 10 minutes. Make sure you give the cookies room on the baking sheet, as they will spread some.
- Gently flatten each cookie immediately after baking. I use the bottom of a measuring cup or something similar; whatever you use must be flat, larger than the cookie, and clean. Remember, we’re not flattening them into pancakes, just a gentle nudge to gently compress them and make the tops completely flat, like when we flatten Lofthouse cookies to have a completely level surface for icing. This compacts the cookies to make them super dense and chewy, which is exactly what we want!
SAM’S TIP: Your double chocolate chunk cookies will be very fragile when warm, so it’s best to leave them on the baking sheet until they’ve completely cooled before attempting to move them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! This dough can be covered and chilled for up to 3 days. You can also freeze the cookie dough; instructions for both are in the recipe notes below.
Note that if you do make the dough in advance, you will likely need to let it come to room temperature to soften a bit before you can scoop it, it gets pretty firm!
I really recommend chocolate chunks or a chopped chocolate bar with this recipe. Of course chocolate chips would “work” (use around a cup and a half) but chopped chocolate is best! If you only have chocolate chips on hand, you should try my double chocolate chip cookies instead!
Yes. If you’re going to follow this recipe, follow it all the way and flatten the cookies! If you don’t, the cookies will be puffier and not nearly as fudgy or chewy–in other words, completely different cookies. I can’t actually tell you what to do, but I really recommend taking this extra step for best results!
Also, if you chilled your cookie dough, you will most definitely want to flatten your cookies as they probably won’t spread very much in the oven.
If you love chocolate, try my triple chocolate cake next!
Enjoy!
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Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter cut into pieces
- ½ cup (50 g) Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup (133 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 8 oz (227 g) semi-sweet chocolate bars chopped (or a 10 oz/283g bag of chocolate chunks)
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, heat butter in 15-20 second increments (stirring in between) until butter is melted.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- Immediately add cocoa powder and whisk to combine. Allow to cool until no longer warm to the touch (this usually only takes a few minutes after adding the cocoa, the mixture shouldn’t be warm or it could end up melting your sugar).½ cup (50 g) Dutch-process cocoa powder
- Add sugars and stir to combine.1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, ⅔ cup (133 g) light brown sugar
- Stir in eggs and vanilla extract.2 large eggs, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon table salt
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients (I recommend doing this in 3 or 4 parts), stirring after each addition until all dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
- Stir in chopped chocolate.8 oz (227 g) semi-sweet chocolate bars
- Scoop cookies by 3 Tablespoon-sized scoops (62g) and gently roll between your palms to create a smooth ball. Place on prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 2” apart.
- Transfer to center rack of 350F (175C) preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Within a minute or two of removing from the oven, gently flatten with the clean bottom of a measuring cup (the bottom can get a bit messy from the melted chocolate, you may need to carefully wipe it clean with a paper towel between cookies) to gently compress the cookies and give them a flat surface (don’t skip this!). Allow to cool completely on baking sheet before enjoying!
Notes
Chocolate
Semisweet or dark chocolate bars work well here but semisweet is my preference. Chop the chocolate into a blend of nice coarser pieces (slightly larger than storebought chunks) and then smaller pieces, too. And all those fine bits/fragments of chocolate? Don’t leave them behind! Mix them into your dough, too.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.The dough may be tightly covered and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days before scooping and baking, the dough will get quite firm after a while in the fridge so you will likely need to let it sit (covered) at room temperature a bit before it’ll be scoopable. If your cookies are staying too round in the oven after refrigerating, you can gently flatten the cookies a bit before baking, too.
Freezing
Cookie dough may be scooped and frozen according to my guide on how to freeze cookie dough.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
kim
Can these be done as bar cookies?
Sam Merritt
Hi Kim! I haven’t tried it, but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t do it. 🙂
Minnie
Excellent! Added a little expresso coffee granules and loved it.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum! We are so happy you enjoyed them, Minnie 😊
Anne
These look amazing! One question: I know normally Dutch process cocoa powder recipes use baking powder instead of baking soda, and natural cocoa powder recipes use baking soda, since natural cocoa powder is more acidic, which gives the baking soda something to react to. But this recipe uses Dutch process cocoa powder and mostly baking soda (with a little bit of baking powder). Was there a particular reason why? Just curious 😀
Sam
Hi Anne! You are totally correct! I found out, with some experimentation, that sometimes you need to bend the rules just a little bit. 🙂
Sherry Wood
I love your recipes and have been trying several for the past month or so. This was about the 6th cookie recipe I have done and none of them have disappointed! I am not a chocoholic (I love chocolate but not over the top) so I made these with my friend (who is a chocoholic) in mind. They turned out beautifully and look just like the picture. They were easy to make and I do see where the chopped bar works better than using chips. They are very chocolatey but also very sweet. I can’t finish one cookie at a time.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Sherry! 🙂
CCW
The best ever. I’ve tried so many recipes over the years and these are simply the best.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Heidi
Im about to make these cookies. since they are so dark, what am I looking for as far as signs of being perfectly baked? I want to make sure I dont overbake them. all ovens seems to bake slightly different so thought I’d ask for tip. cause I also don’t want to remove them from the oven too soon when they are raw!
Sam
Hi Heidi! Honestly it’s tough to tell by look with these. The visual in my post may be helpful. They shouldn’t look wet when done baking. Good luck! 🙂
KJ
These are amazingly chocolatey and delicious. Great recipe and easy to make. We didn’t find them chewy but they are delish! Make them immediately!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Tiffany
Delicious and easy!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Tiffany! 🙂
Fran Russell
Just made these for Sunday night football playoffs and the recipe made 26 perfectly round cookies that are absolutely deeeelicious! I only had Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips and used those, because I didn’t have cornstarch to make your recommended chocolate chocolate chip recipe if you don’t have chocolate bars on hand. Nevertheless, they look great and taste even better. I’m trying to think of a different way to press the cookies after baking, because I went through a boatload of paper towels wiping off the measuring cup after pressing each cookie! 🤣
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! I just use the same paper towel the entire way. You can skip the wiping step if you want. You will just transfer more chocolate onto the next cookie. They may not be as pretty, but who doesn’t love more chocolate?!?! 🙂
Audra
I’m learning to bake and these were not difficult and came out AMAZING. Hubby accidentally bought only 4oz of the chocolate bar but I had a handful of caramel and dark chocolate baking chips left. I mixed them all together and oh my goodness!!!! So good!!! Thank you for making this recipe!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Audra! 🙂
Maria
I made these today and they are absolutely amazing! I am an “older generation”, seasoned baker and this is my first ever comment online anywhere. As I was eating one and reveling in the sheer delight of fudginess I said to my husband and daughter that if I were to ever comment on a recipe this one would be the one, so here I am! These actually taste chocolatey unlike so many other chocolate recipes. So, so good! Make them. You will not be disappointed! P.S. I made your chili last week and it was wonderful!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Maria! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
Linda
Thanks for the recipe Sam! These cookies were a huge hit with the family. Nice crunch on the outside & gooey brownie like in the middle, yum. 😋 The one thing I did different is that I used my fresh milled whole grain AP flour blend vs buying store bought AP flour. Worked perfectly using weights in lieu of volume.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Linda! 🙂
Monique Linders
i just made the cookies. they are really lovely! Thank you very much!
Sam
You’re the first one to review them, thank you! 🥳 I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed them so much, Monique! Thank you for trying my recipe and letting me know how it turned out, I really appreciate it!